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Oman: US, Iran Close to Finalizing Deal on Detainees

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, (File photo: AP)
Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, (File photo: AP)
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Oman: US, Iran Close to Finalizing Deal on Detainees

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, (File photo: AP)
Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, (File photo: AP)

Iran and the US are close to finalizing an agreement on releasing US nationals in Tehran, announced Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi.

"I can say they are close," Busaidi said of the potential prisoner agreement. "This is probably a question of technicalities."

"They need a framework [and] a timeframe of how this should be orchestrated."

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a press conference that his country held indirect talks with the US through Omani mediation, denying that they were "secret."

Kanaani announced that mediators are also negotiating the issue of exchanging prisoners if Washington showed "seriousness and goodwill."

Busaidi said Wednesday that there is a "positive atmosphere" surrounding the nuclear issue, adding that Muscat believes the Iranian leadership is serious about reaching an agreement.

The United States and Iran denied reports of an "interim agreement."

The US released $2.7 billion of Iran's frozen assets in Iraq for humanitarian goods.

However, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denied that the move was part of the deal with Tehran, asserting that the measure goes back a few years, and the funds have been transferred out of the restricted accounts to pay only for humanitarian and other non-sanctionable transactions.

In Tehran, a lawmaker revealed indirect informal negotiations on prisoners swap are ongoing between Iran and the US, the second confirmation of its kind by an Iranian legislator within a week.

Member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Fada Hossein Maleki, confirmed to state television the informal negotiations without mediation with the US, which are held upon the need.

The lawmaker referred to informal direct negotiations regarding releasing Iran's frozen assets.

He said the negotiations included the release of Iran's frozen assets, and the release of detained US citizens, saying Iran agreed to the issues.

Iranian deputy Mojtaba Tavangar said the US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, and the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Saeed Irvani, held several meetings.

Twanger accused the US administration of obstructing a prisoner release deal because it sought nuclear concessions.

Tavanger confirmed the meetings, saying the US obstructions failed the prisoner exchange deal.

"The US is trying to get more concessions from Iran in nuclear matters in exchange for releasing frozen funds, a policy violating the law and contradictory to Iran's interests," Tavangar added.

Recent reports claimed Tehran had stopped enriching uranium by 60 percent and agreed to release US detainees in exchange for releasing its frozen assets with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), South Korea, and Iraq, estimated at $27 billion.

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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso Rule Out Returning to the ECOWAS Regional Bloc

Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
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Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso Rule Out Returning to the ECOWAS Regional Bloc

Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO
Head of the military junta in Niger Abdourahamane Tchiani (L) and Interim leader of Burkina Faso Captain Ibrahim Traore (R) salute at the first ever Alliance of Sahel States summit in Niamey, Niger, 06 July 2024. EPA/ISSIFOU DJIBO

Military junta leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso on Saturday ruled out returning their nations to the West Africa regional bloc whose division could further jeopardize efforts to undo coups and curb violence spreading across the region.
The leaders of the three countries announced that position during their first summit in Niamey, the capital of Niger, after their withdrawal from the West Africa bloc known as ECOWAS in January, The Associated Press said.
They also accused the bloc of failing its mandate and pledged to consolidate their own union — the Alliance of Sahel States — created last year amid fractured relations with neighbors.
The nearly 50-year-old ECOWAS has become “a threat to our states,” said Niger’s military leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani.
"We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” he said.
The meeting of the three countries that border one another came a day before an ECOWAS summit being held in Nigeria by other heads of state in the region.
Analysts said the two meetings show the deep division in ECOWAS, which had emerged as the top political authority for its 15 member states before the unprecedented decision of the three countries to withdraw their membership.
Despite efforts by ECOWAS to keep its house united, the alliance between the three military junta-led countries will most likely remain outside the regional bloc as tensions continue to grow, said Karim Manuel, an analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“Attempts at mediation will likely continue nonetheless, notably led by Senegal’s new administration, but it will not be fruitful anytime soon,” said Manuel.
Formed last September, the Alliance of Sahel States has been touted by the three junta-led countries as a tool to seek new partnerships with countries like Russia and cement their independence from former colonial ruler France , which they accuse of interfering with ECOWAS.
At the meeting in Niamey, Burkina Faso's leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, reaffirmed those concerns and accused foreign countries of exploiting Africa.
“Westerners consider that we belong to them and our wealth also belongs to them. They think that they are the ones who must continue to tell us what is good for our states. This era is gone forever; our resources will remain for us and our populations,” Traoré said.
“The attack on one of us will be an attack on all the other members,” said Mali’s leader, Col. Assimi Goïta.
With Goïta elected as the new alliance's leader, the three leaders signed a pact in committing their countries to creating a regional parliament and a bank similar to those operated by ECOWAS. They also committed to pooling their military resources to fight insecurity in their countries.
At a meeting of regional ministers on Thursday, Omar Alieu Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, said it had not received "the right signals” about any possible return of the three states despite ECOWAS lifting coup-related sanctions that the three nations blamed for their decision to quit the bloc.
It is not only the three countries that are angry at ECOWAS, observers say. The bloc has lost goodwill and support from West African citizens so much that some celebrated the recent spate of coups in the region where citizens have complained of not benefitting from rich natural resources in their countries.
For the most part, ECOWAS is seen as representing only the interests of its members' leaders and not that of the masses, said Oge Onubogu, director of the Africa Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank.